


Purple Dryad

by wendysbear



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 18:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16897926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendysbear/pseuds/wendysbear
Summary: “I’m no simple mermaid, Seul, I am a purple dryad,” she laughed and danced through the waves, her blond hair getting drenched on the salt water. “Draw me, Seul,” she asked with a dopey smile.





	Purple Dryad

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is the first time I'm posting anything on this site so I hope you can enjoy it! And I'm sorry if this is a little sad, I didn't mean to, I was just on the mood.
> 
> Also! If you can! Listen to Frank Ocean's Forrest Gump on repeat while reading this! It sets a mood and it was what I heard while writing it!
> 
> :)

The sunset was beautiful. She loved that. She loved the way the sunlight touched the mountains, how the orange would paint the trees and its leaves, how the wind seemed to gain color by the end of the day. It was her favorite part of the day. During free days, she would make us drive all the way to the beach, just to see the sun hiding behind the waves, how the blue became orange, yellow, red, sometimes she would claim the water was purple and laugh. On those days, she would get in the water, with whatever clothing she was wearing, and claim she was a dryad.

  
_ “I’m no simple mermaid, Seul, I am a purple dryad,” she laughed and danced through the waves, her blond hair getting drenched on the salt water. “Draw me, Seul,” she asked with a dopey smile. _

  
Today the sunset was special. It was the beginning of fall and the leaves were still not completely dead. She liked the mixture of green and orange and brown and red. She liked colors, to be simple. Even the boring buildings ( _ all buildings are grey, and grey is such a boring color, Seul, if I were ever to make a building, it would be bright blue, and green, because green reminds me of you _ ) looked beautiful, the light appeared to have dyed them of color and they had some kind of life.   
But instead of staying in the city, watching the dull buildings gain color, I chose to go further, on the camp outside town she liked to go. She used to tell me how every tree had a name, a history, a family, even kids. She laughed, pulling herself on the highest branches and telling me the most enchanted things about fauna and flora. She was an enchanted being, after all.

  
_ “The nymphs are my friends!” She giggled excitedly, hugging a tree, “They live inside the trees, y’know, and they tell everyone’s secrets,” she sat by my side, looking at me with the biggest smile. _ __   
_ “What kind of secrets do they tell you?” I asked truthfully interested. Everyone would say she was crazy, but I knew better. _ _   
_ __ She giggled again, giddy that I took interest in her magical stories. And how could I not? She was the most ethereal being that ever existed, and I was completely willing to let her enchant me.

  
I sat by a tree. This one had almost all her leaves on the ground, they crunched under my feet and I enjoyed the sound. But I didn’t choose it for its fallen leaves. This tree had a history and it knew everything about me and her.   
We had spent several days and nights sat underneath her. It was the only one I dared to climb, and it was one of the highest. I shivered with every movement. She laughed at me, saying that this tree wouldn’t let me fall, and when I asked why she said simply:

  
_ “She likes you, Seul. She told me you’ve drawn her with a peach dress and cute bangs, so she decided to be your protector,” she held my hand and brought me to her. _ __   
_ “How does she know I drew her?” I asked, really confused this time. _ _   
_ __ “You’re always drawing, I guess she just paid attention,” she shrugged.

  
And she was right, as always. Whenever I tried to climb any other tree (during any moment of my life) I’d fall, but not on her. This tree had known me, had liked me, and was my protector like she had said.   
I took my drawing notebook out of my backpack, supported my back on her trunk, and put a cigarette on my lips. I wouldn’t dare to light it on her presence, knowing very well how damaging it would be for her. But I just needed to feel it on my lips, I needed it to ground me.   
Finding the perfect position, I started drawing the sunset with all its colors. All its hues and waves and smiles. She used to tell me even the sun had a personality, how it had bad days and it showed on its rays of light.

  
_ “Look, the water is dull today, even if it’s the sunset,” she told me, hugging my waist while I laid my head on her shoulder. This felt like home, she felt like home. “He must’ve had a bad day,” her lips twitched to the side, showing how worried she felt. _ __   
_ “How can the sun have a bad day? Isn’t he going to appear on another side of the world? Isn’t it always day for him?” I asked, confused and knowing she wouldn’t judge me. We were used to each other, used to each other perks and curiosities. She knew a lot about nature and its feelings, I knew a lot about drawings and mathematics, and, somehow, we managed to work out together. _ _   
_ __ “He sees everything, though. He sees all the bad and good, he is never hiding from a fight or complaining, he gives light and energy for everyone. It is more than expected that he might have bad days, when his light won’t shine as bright, when he needs a break from all bad things and goes to another side of the world hoping things are better,” she said simply, as if she had always known this, as if this was obvious, and then kissed my temple.

  
Today the sun had a great day, which made me glad. Maybe today he saw more good than bad, maybe today he had a nice talk with a star. I didn’t know what had happened (she wasn’t there to tell me) but I knew something good was up for him.   
Whenever he was happy, my drawings got a lighter trace. But not today. Today I felt dull. Today I felt all the longing and loneliness she had left me with. It was hard not to think of her every day, especially when she made every natural element hers. Every color belonged to her. Even the dark ones. I guess, the only color that wasn’t hers was grey, but I didn’t want anything that wasn’t related to her.   
That is why I was sitting by the tree where we had our first kiss, looking at the most magical sunset I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch, wearing her blue dress, and drawing everything. The cigarettes were the only thing that was mine. She hated them. She hated when she would arrive at my house and saw me on my third or fourth “death stick” as she liked to call them. I’d still smoke them.

  
_ “This is the only thing I hate about you, Seul,” she took the cigarette out of my mouth, throwing it away. _ __   
_ “Not all of us can be perfect like you, my sweet dryad,” I said while taking my opened pack away from her, knowing that if she got the chance, she’d throw it away. _ __   
_ “At least you could’ve chosen a fault that didn’t include killing yourself slowly,” she crossed her arms over her chest, clearly upset. _ __   
_ “I didn’t choose it,” I argued, putting my fingers on the loops of her worn out blue jeans, “It came for me on my sleep and choked me with its smoke for several nights, until I started to crave it,” my voice was low, only for her to hear it. _ _   
_ __ Her lips quivered. She knew my words were far from just a metaphor, they were my past spoke in a more poetic way. I tended to do that a lot. I studied engineering but never lost the habit of reading poems and writing my own. So she knew about my smoky past. And she hated it. I hated it too, but there was nothing left for us to do. We couldn’t change the past, and I was far from wanting to quit my deathly habit.

  
No purple.   
There was no purple today.   
It meant she wouldn’t come. And I suddenly felt like crying. Actually, I was already crying. I drew the landscape perfectly like I was accustomed to doing. She used to tell me I was born for the arts, both book and painting, not all those numbers I seemed infatuated with. I agreed, but I had bills to pay. She was enchanted, I wasn’t. I had never been. No matter how much she would disagree.

 

_ If smoking weren't going to kill me, finals surely were. I  was submerged into articles to read, notes to take, equations to practice, blueprints to analyze. I hadn't slept properly for days now, my blood probably had been replaced by coffee already and I refused to look in the mirror. I only remembered to shower because she loved water and never let me forget it. _

_ She poked my forehead and I jumped from my seat. When had she arrived? What time is it? What is going on? _

_ “I don't like when you study like this,” she spoke softly, taking the cigarette out of my lips and pushing a glass of water through them. I swallowed the liquid feeling relieved for drinking something not bitter nor warm. “You worry me, Seul.” _

_ “I'm sorry,” I held her hand that was still on my face, it slowly fell to my cheek and stayed there, “college gets the best of me sometimes.” _

_ “I know,” she frowned, “and you shouldn't let it happen. You're a fairy! Have you seen your eyes? You're meant to fly around and sing lovely songs! The sun would totally let you sit by his rays just to hear you sing,” the frown had disappeared, being replaced by a shiny eye smile. _

_ “I'm no fairy, babe, I'm a simple student with more things to study, then actually time to do it.” _

_ “Nonsense!” She stood up bringing me with her, “Jungeun told me I could never have fallen for someone that wasn't as magical as I, which means you are the most enchanted being in this whole world!” _

_ She made us dance while she spoke, and I let myself laugh. She spun me around, singing a song I composed and she wrote the lyrics. _

_ “Jungeun isn't a very wise owl,” I said while laughing. _

_ “She is the wisest! One day you'll meet her!” _

_ “After my finals!” _

_ “Ay I hate your finals,” she pouted and smiled, and I couldn’t help but kiss her deeply. _

 

“You should’ve gone to the sea, she hasn’t come here in a while,” a sweet and happy voice spoke to me. I felt her sit by my side and analyze my drawing. Her voice made my heart hurt.   
“It’s been four months now, Jiwoo, I don’t think she’ll ever come back,” I said between tears, not minding to dry them. There was nothing I could hide from her anyways, she knew me better than I know myself.   
Jiwoo huffed. She could feel my pain. I would dare to say she could taste my sorrow. Jiwoo was like  _ her _ , an enchanted being. She was the tree’s nymph and she kept me company whenever  _ she _ wasn’t around. Which meant she stayed by my side for the past four months since  _ she _ left me. The first time Jiwoo appeared I was startled, to say the least.

  
_ My sobs could’ve been heard throughout all the empty camp. I didn’t care. All I knew was that it hurt. My skin, my head, my arms, my legs… my whole body hurt as if a truck had run over me. And I wished it had. I wished I was literally in pieces. But no, my soul was the one broken and scattered. _ __   
_ “Oh no, no no no no no no please do not cry, please,” a voice I only had heard on my dreams spoke loud and clear. It felt soft on my ears, it felt soothing. But the pain was still there. I looked onto its direction, to be met by a girl with a peach dress and cute bangs. _ __   
_ “I-“ my sobs took the best of me. I tried to speak again, but it just hurt. She kneeled in front of me, putting my hair behind my ear and drying my face, something that was completely useless because my cries weren’t going to stop anytime soon. “I have drawn you…” I finally managed to say, receiving a small, sad smile from her. _ __   
_ “You did,” she nodded, still with the sad smile, “and I liked that draw, therefore I liked you. So, please, don’t cry,” she asked. _ __   
_ “But… she’s gone,” and I broke down on tears again, she hugged me and hummed a song I knew quite well. _ _   
_ __ It was the song she and I had made.

  
Jiwoo held my hand, and with her free hand, she passed her fingers by my sad drawing of a happy landscape. Four months.   
“Haseul,” she called me and I just hummed letting her know I was listening, “she didn’t leave you on purpose, you know that right?” Once again, I just nodded, not trusting myself to speak. “She loves you.”   
“What is love worth if she isn’t coming back?” I spoke with a raspy voice. It sounded weak and worn out, just like I felt. “I miss her so much, Jiwoo. She was my sunlight and my colors and my drawings and my music and…”   
My sobs took the best of me. It ended up like this whenever me and Jiwoo talked. She only appeared when I was about to break. I had a feeling that Jiwoo and I had a soul connection or something that I couldn’t explain, but it made sense. I had plenty of dreams about her and they’d always rush back to my memory whenever I was around her tree, even before I knew she was the spirit of this tree. And she only appeared to me when I needed someone the most, and was left alone. She did it pretty often. She would hold me when nobody could.   
But she wasn’t  _ her _ . I crumbled on Jiwoo’s arms, knowing they were the only arms that truly knew what I felt.

  
_ “I don’t feel okay, Seul,” her voice came out weak. _ __   
_ I ran towards her and touched her forehead, she was burning up. Everything happened so fast after that. I saw her crying and kneeled by her side. I called Sooyoung, the only friend we had that knew anything about medicine. Sooyoung insisted I took her to a hospital, and I agreed. But she said no, and no, and no. Her skin, that usually was on the temperature of the sea, was burning and it worried me to no end. _ __   
_ “Babe, please, let’s go to a hos-“ _ _   
_ __ “Take me to the beach,” she spoke only for me to hear. I could never deny anything she asked me, and I wasn’t planning to start now.

  
I wanted to smoke. I wanted to light up my death stick and let it burn me up, I wanted to fill my lungs with the poisonous smoke and torture my cells with carbon dioxide until they couldn’t replace themselves. I wanted to be gone. Just like she was.   
But I wouldn’t ever dare to smoke in Jiwoo’s presence. I wanted to kill myself, not the magical being that had presented me with nothing but care and support when I felt like I was falling apart. Maybe the only reason I stayed sane during these sixteen weeks was that I could come here and meet Jiwoo after the sunset.   
“She wouldn’t appreciate those thoughts, Seulie,” Jiwoo spoke softly, still keeping me in her arms.   
“How do you know what I’m thinking about?”   
“You and I, we’re the same,” she said like it was obvious.   
I drew a handful of air, trying to even my breath, but I was still crying, so it probably did nothing.   
“I don’t understand…”   
Jiwoo laughed lowly, making me look at her. She started to comb my hair with her two hands and it felt… I can’t explain correctly how it feels when a fairy combs your hair, but it was simply surreal. All the pain and hurt from missing  _ her _ diminished automatically. Instead of feeling like I was living in a bee nest, it felt like a small thorn was in my skin. It bothered me significantly, but not to the point of making me lose myself on tears. I closed my eyes instinctively, the cigarette falling from my lips and I didn’t care. Something very unusual because I always cared about my death sticks.   
“You and I are the same, like her and the sea.”

  
_ She was taller than me, but she was so weak her body felt like a featherweight on my back. I held her legs strongly by my sides, keeping her still. Her eyes had been closed during the whole way here. We had walked.  _ **_I_ ** _ had walked. When I tried to put her inside my car, she just screamed, throwing her weak body on the floor and saying that she couldn’t get inside that smoke machine. _ __   
_ I wasn’t in the mood of arguing with her. She was sick and I was not only whipped but also worried. So, my only idea was carrying her on my back. _ __   
_ When we arrived at the sea, her eyes opened for the first on the fifteen-minute walk. Her warm body seemed to cool off, and it made me feel slightly better. Only slightly because something in soul was telling me I was about to say goodbye to her. _ __   
_ She had been giving me signs, I just didn’t want to see them. How she kept longing for the sea more often, how the sun seemed sadder, how the trees weren’t enough anymore. The only thing she wanted was the sea. She wanted the waves and to see the water become purple. _ __   
_ “Take me to the water, Seul, please, I need the water…” _ __   
_ She didn’t have to ask me though, I was already going to do that. I knew it. I knew what she needed, but I was scared. My heart clenched, but my pain didn’t matter right now, what mattered was that she would be fine. _ __   
_ Not surprisingly, it was during a sunset. And the water was purple. _ __   
_ I sat her on the water, her temperature going back to normal. _ _   
_ __ “I’m a purple dryad, Seul,” she said one last time.

  
The motion on my hair stopped, and I was able to open my eyes again. Jiwoo looked at me, hopefulness on her eyes.   
“Am I a peach nymph?” I asked still letting tears fall.   
She laughed, “you’re the color you choose to be,” she said smiling.   
“Will I see her again?” I hiccupped, getting a small giggle from Jiwoo as a response.   
“Yes.”   
It was everything I needed to hear. I don’t really know what happened after this, but I stopped feeling the pain. Not even the thorn stayed. Was it what she felt when I put her on the water? This peace, this cure… My eyes were closed, and I all heard was Jiwoo’s voice and touch. Was I real?

  
_ I smiled at her, pecking her lips, loving whenever she talked about magical things. She smiled back at me. But then a huge wave came at us. I got desperate. She was no longer in my arms, and there were no remnants of her. The water was more purple like she dissolved onto it and painted the whole sea. _ _   
_ _ I cried. _

  
I was still crying when I opened my eyes. But I wasn’t at the camp anymore. I wasn’t wearing her blue dress anymore, actually, it was a green dress now and it felt so light and fitting. Jiwoo was near me, I could feel her.   
“Seul!” I heard her voice and I almost fainted.   
She was wearing baggy pants and a top cropped, both purple, it made me laugh. She was laughing too. We stared at each other for a while, before I ran and threw myself on her arms.   
“I missed you,” I sobbed on her arms, putting my head on her neck, letting myself drown on her scent. Oh my, how much had I missed her. I wanted to be here forever and ever and ever.   
“I’m here now, Seul, and I won’t ever leave you anymore,” her voice calmed me down, my cries ending.   
“Oh my gods, please don’t,” I begged.   
She distanced herself from me, smiling like a fool. She pecked my lips the same way I had on the last time I had seen her.   
“I’m a purple dryad, Seul,” she said, making me laugh a little. But then I looked at myself, and I looked back at Jiwoo, who had an owl calmly seat on her shoulder. And I just knew. And a weight was lifted from my shoulders.   
“I’m a green nymph, Soul,” I giggled and hugged her, knowing I wouldn’t lose her ever again.   
  


**Author's Note:**

> Catch me on twitter if you feel like >> @choiyunx <<
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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